Look Three Turns Ahead

Diane Krakora

Any good snow skier know you have to look three turns ahead to navigate moguls with speed and agility. If your focus is on the current bump, by the time you navigate that turn, you’re tossed back on your heels and in a scramble to set up for the next turn. If on the other hand, you continue to look three turns ahead, you’ve created a visual plan and are now simply executing that plan, while keeping your focus on the future –what’s the next bump or challenge. You know where you’re going next, are positioned forward, over your ski’s, in the attack stance, executing your plan without really even thinking about it, and can move much, much faster through the mogul field. You might still catch an edge on a bump, fumble a bit, miss your planned next turn and need to re-adjust your plan for your next three turns – but at least wobble happens infrequently, not on every single turn.

This is a great lesson to take with us as we move into 2009 – a large and long mogul field. It seems everybody is focused on their feet right now. What is